Credit and bank issued debit cards have been in wide spread use for many years. Until recently, the majority of uses of these cards are "attended uses", requiring personnel of the business establishment, or attendants, to process and complete a sale or transaction using a credit or bank issued debit card.
In the past, credit card transactions were made by imprinting information stamped on a credit card onto a multi part credit card receipt using a forced-contact device. It was a common business practice to contact a credit card company by telephone to verify the availability of credit on the card to ensure that there was sufficient credit to complete the transaction. If sufficient credit was available, the credit card company and or credit card processor company provided an authorization number over the telephone which was manually printed onto the credit card receipt.
Magnetic strip technology has largely made the forced-contact devices unnecessary and has allowed for the expansion of credit card and bank issued debit card transactions. Using magnetic strip technology, information concerning a credit card (or bank issued debit card) an owner's account number is stored as magnetic information on a magnetic strip attached to a credit card or bank issued debit card. By passing the magnetic strip through a magnetic card reader the information about an individual's credit card (or bank issued debit card) account can be read. The information can then be transmitted over telephone lines to the credit card company (or other authorization service) to obtain an authorization for a particular credit card transaction. Imprints of credit card information onto a receipt using a forced-contact device is no longer necessary, as magnetic information is output to a printer which outputs credit card (or bank issued debit card) information (such as the credit card account number or bank issued debit card number) and the transaction information (such as amount, date and store where purchase was made) onto a receipt for the credit card owner.
An alternative to a magnetic strip is an embedded semiconductor device (i.e. memory and/or microprocessor) which can store information for access during a transaction.
Various self-service devices using credit cards and bank issued debit cards have been appearing in the marketplace. Automatic Teller Machines (ATMS) have allowed users to deposit, withdraw and transfer funds to and from bank accounts. Originally ATMs were only used with bank issued debit cards. It is now possible to use credit cards for transactions, such as withdrawals, at ATMs (this may be more accurately described as a loan against an available credit line). Neither credit cards or bank issued debit cards contain information about account content. Account content is stored on the computer of a credit card company or bank. This information is accessed with the credit card or bank issued debit card.
In the vending field, credit cards and bank issued debit cards can be used directly at the pumps at self-service gas stations for dispensing gasoline. Although self-service, this type of vend is still referred to as an attended vend (or attended transaction), as an operator must always be on duty at the gas station. Credit cards can also be used on airplanes for personal telephone calls. This use is also considered an attended transaction as flight attendants are available, as well as a telephone operator for assistance, collect calls, information, etc.
Vending machines, such as copy machines or food machines (e.g. soda machines or candy machines), are often used in a completely unattended state. After normal working hours in libraries, office buildings, post office, court houses or copy facilities, users can still operate a copy machine or food machine using either coins, cash or private debit cards. Private (non-bank issued) debit cards are often referred to as "stored value cards" or "prepaid cards" or "vending cards" . Prepaid cards differ from bank issued debit cards in that prepaid cards have a cash value encoded on the card's magnetic strip (or, alternatively, on an embedded semiconductor device). The prepaid card does not require a connection to a database, as do bank issued debit cards and credit cards, to determine if a transaction is within an available credit limit (for a credit card) or within an available balance (for a bank issued debit card). Prepaid cards have been used to solve some of the problems associated with coin operated vending machines.
Coin operated machines require that a user have sufficient change to purchase the products, make the copies or purchase the services which a user has selected. For example, a user/purchaser may not, before arriving at a vending location, be aware that the selection is available or be aware of the cost of the items in the vending machines. Further, if a user seeks to purchase many items, a large amount of change is necessary. Carrying a sufficient amount of change is burdensome because of the weight and space taken up by the coins, as well as the need to acquire the coins from a bank or other establishment. Carrying large amounts of change may be conspicuous and can pose security problems for a user, particularly late at night in a library, for example.
Although coin changers are often found in the vicinity of coin operated vending machines, coin changers can run out of change or be the targets of vandals, causing problems during unattended use. In addition, there is a lack of accountability, as there is no receipt for transactions. From an operator's perspective, problems with coin operated vending machines include vandalism, theft, inaccurate counting/reporting, collection and depositing.
Prepaid card operated vending machines, such as copy machines, use a magnetic card reader typically located in a central location or attached to the vending machines. To obtain a prepaid card, some present systems allow the purchase of a pre-paid card with a dollar value (or transaction value) already encoded. Other present systems use either an operator to carry out the encoding of the prepaid amount on the magnetic card (sometimes referred to as a "copy card"), or a machine analogous to a change machine for dispensing a new prepaid card and/or encoding a new prepaid amount onto an existing prepaid card.
During unattended use, however, both of these means for obtaining a prepaid card may be inoperable. In the first instance, an attendant is not available during unintended use to encode a purchased amount on an existing prepaid card or issue a new card. In the case of a prepaid card dispensing machine, sufficient change or cash must still be carried by the user to operate such a machine.
Further, generally, both existing coin and prepaid card operated vending machines do not provide transaction information concerning the type of transaction, location, duration, time and other items of marketing and operation information concerning the various transactions. This information can prove useful to the operator of vending machines. The lack of marketing and operation information is compounded if multiple vending machines are located at a particular site or owned by single entity (as is often the case). An operator has to monitor the vending machines by going to the vending location-in order to determine the number of items sold. Operators typically inventory a vending machine, fill the order from a truck or car, and then reload the vending machine. Alternatively and equally inefficient, an operator may carry enough items to refill the entire vending machine each time the vending machine is visited to avoid making multiple trips between a car/truck and the vending machine. Again, the problems associated with monitoring and filling vending machines is compounded if there are multiple vending machines at a single location.
Another problem which arises with current vending machines is the need to make change for every transaction. If a user is vending from several machines, as is common with food and beverage machines, currency/coins must be inserted in each separate machine in order to complete the vending transaction.
Recent trends in the vending industry have sought to replace expensive single price coin changers/controllers with a less expensive coin acceptor device. The driving force behind this move has been the desire to have multi-price capabilities. Multi-pricing i s the vending of different products in a single vending machine at different prices. In the past, more expensive coin mechanisms tallied the deposited coins and made appropriate change after a user completed the user's vend selection. Less expensive coin changers relied on the vending machine's controllers to count the incoming coins, operate the vending cycle and make change.
The vending industry has adopted a standard coin changer interface, commonly referred to as the "micromech" interface. This interface includes a communication protocol and wiring configuration for controlling a single vending machine, via a single coin changer. The vending industry, through the National Automated Merchandising Association (NAMA) has developed standards on protocol and wire connections. Table 1 is a list of the hard wired connections associated with the industry standard coin changer.
TABLE 1 15 Pin Version 12 Pin Version Pin 1-(+) 5VDC Pin 1-(+) 5VDC Pin 2-5V Return Pin 2-5V Return Pin 3-SEND Pin 3-SEND Pin 4-INT Pin 4-INT Pin 5-DATA Pin 5-DATA Pin 6-ACCEPT ENABLE Pin 6-ACCEPT ENABLE Pin 7-Dispense $0.25 Pin 7-Dispense $0.25 Pin 8-Dispense $0.10 Pin 8-Dispense $0.10 Pin 9-Dispense $0.05 Pin 9-Dispense $0.05 Pin 10-(+) 120VDC Pin 10; 24VDC Pin 11-RESET Pin 11-RESET Pin 12-(+) 120VDC Pin 12-(+) 24VDC Pin 13-24VDC Return Pin 14-Dispense $1.00 Pin 15-(+) 24VDC
Under this standard, when a coin is deposited, the coin changer sets the INT line active. This activity requests permission from the vending machine controller to transmit data. When the vending machine responds by setting the SEND line active, the coin changer sends a one byte instruction via the DATA line to the vending machine controller. The controller then sets the SEND line to its inactive state. If the vending machine controller desires to recheck the transmitted data, the SEND line can be set to an active state for a second time. Setting the SEND line to an active state for a second time forces the coin changer to send she same byte (information) a second time. The one byte instruction includes information, such as the type of coins deposited, whether the coin tubes (containing the coin changer mechanism for dispensing change) are full and other status information.
At the discretion of the vending machine controller, coins may be ejected by activating one of three control lines. In the typical prior art configuration, when the QUARTER RETURN is activated a quarter is ejected into the coin return. A similar operation occurs for the dimes and nickels. In addition, the vending machine controller has the ability to enable and disable the coin changer via the ACCEPT ENABLE and RESET lines.